U.S. strikes Houthi targets for second night running
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) – U.S. forces struck a Houthi target in Yemen early on Saturday morning, local time, for the second night in a row. The strikes were retaliation for Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, and they aim at degrading the Houthis’ military capabilities and deterring further attacks.
At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen. This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes… pic.twitter.com/YE5BKJLGBv
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2024
The first set of U.S. strikes, conducted early on Friday morning in concert with the U.K., marked the most significant military action undertaken by the Biden administration during the three years that it has been in office.
Saturday morning’s strike underscored the unprecedented nature of the administration’s current military posture. It also suggests that the U.S. encountered no major problems, such as significant protest from key Arab allies, in the previous set of attacks.
Indeed, the Biden administration’s tougher military posture has been accompanied by a parallel change in its language. When it first took office, as part of its outreach to Iran, it removed the Houthis from the U.S. list of designated terrorist groups.
But, on Friday, when asked, “Are you willing to call the Houthis a terrorist group?,” Biden replied, “I think they are.”
Details of Latest Attack
CENTCOM issued a statement late on Friday (Washington time) describing the second attack. It said, “At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan. 13, U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen.”
The U.S.S. Carney carried out the strike. The Carney is one of four guided-missile destroyers in the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which was moved to the Eastern Mediterranean the day after Hamas’s bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel.
The Carney has already had significant engagements with the Houthis. Most notably, it shot down a barrage of explosive drones that the group launched on Dec. 16. The entire crew received the Navy’s Combat Action Ribbon for that action, while the ship’s commander received a bronze star.
In Saturday morning’s strike, the Carney used Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against the Houthi radar site. CENTCOM described the attack as “a follow-on action” to the strikes the night before and “designed to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vehicles.”
“Since Nov. 19, 2023, Iranian-backed Houthi militants have attempted to attack and harass vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden 28 times,” the statement continued.
The Houthis actually did fire an anti-ship ballistic missile on Friday. But they did not hit the vessel, which, in fact, turned out to be a Russian oil tanker.
That may have played a role in triggering the Saturday morning strike, but it is also possible that, independent of that aggressive action, U.S. officials deemed the Houthi radar site a danger that was best to take out.
Yemen is a very poor, undeveloped country, with a Gross Domestic Product per capita of $650, according to World Bank figures. That places Yemen among the 13 poorest countries in the world.
All the sophisticated military hardware that the Houthis are using against Red Sea shipping, whether anti-ship ballistic missiles or attack drones, comes from Iran, or, at least, is paid for by Iran. That probably also applies to the Houthis’ radar sites as well.